


The Puppeteer

by FaeMytho, lazyasianscientist



Series: Here have some trash [12]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: :0, M/M, and error/night, but error/night is angst :(, just a little, not the character the actual dying thing, now that i think about it this is written like a folktale, there's error/dream, there's just a little bit of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-03 19:55:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12755091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaeMytho/pseuds/FaeMytho, https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazyasianscientist/pseuds/lazyasianscientist
Summary: Error is lonely, and wishes for a friend.Maybe a couple fairies can make his wish come true?





	The Puppeteer

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY SO, SCI WROTE MOST OF THIS I JUST WROTE THE FLUFF PART AND EDITED EVERYTHING  
> part 1 is angsty  
> part 2 is fluff and the epilogue is for part 2  
> :3c

Once upon a time, there was a lonely puppeteer named Error.

He made amazing puppets, from big to small, turning a ball of string into masterpieces. His room was filled with the beautiful creations, lovingly crafted by hand.

One day, Error felt lonelier than usual, and the room of puppets didn't help to appease the loneliness as it usually did. So he decided, from that day on, he would make himself a companion. He started to work day and night to complete a simple life sized puppet.

 

After its completion, he stood back to admire his work. It was blank, and perfect for customization, a clean slate to decorate as he pleased. But even though he’d reached his goal, the loneliness returned once more, if not worse than before.

 

"I wish you were real," He sighed, picking up the simple puppet and holding it close.

He cried himself to sleep that night.

But even so, day after day, Error would greet this puppet like a friend. Stories of his past and of the people he encountered were told. Even something as simple as how he was feeling that day was relayed to the puppet. Error didn’t mind the silence of his creation, because it was great to have someone to talk to and listen to him, even if they weren’t real.

One night, after finishing his work and telling a story, Error said goodnight as usual, wished once again that his puppet friend was real, and gave the puppet a chaste skelekiss on the forehead.

 

**_Part 1_ **

That night, a brightly colored fairy came, and saw the scene of serenity laid out before him. The mischievous sprite grinned to himself.

"I may be able to grant this puppeteer's wish, with all this time I have. I am getting quite bored~"

So the very next night, as Error held on his puppet's hand, again wishing for the same thing he had every night, the  ~~asshole~~ fairy appeared before the puppeteer, his rainbow wings brightening the room.

"I’M INK!" He proudly proclaimed. "I’ve been observing you, Error, and my heart aches when I see you every night, wishing for a companion!"

Error stared up in awe at the tiny fairy, hope filling him for the first time in a long time.

 

"Really?! You can make my friend real?"

"Of course I can!" Ink replied cheerily, his smile wide but his eyes narrow with malice.

 

With a tap of his magic paintbrush, colors consumed the puppet and gave it life.

A dark blue tunic, paired with a golden crown engraved with a moon appeared on the life-given puppet.

 

"Tadaa~" Ink spun around, clapping his hands. "His name is hmmm.. Nightmare!”

Error didn't mind the name, his eyelights focused and widened with shock at his friend brought to life. He smiled at Nightmare and Nightmare smiled back.

"So, this is going to be temporary, and you have one week!" Ink spoke quickly and promptly disappeared with a flash of light.

Nightmare and Error were inseparable. Error finally had someone real and Nightmare was amazing company. Jokes were exchanged, helping hands were wonderful and finally, the place felt more alive. And Error couldn't help but still continue with their nightly routine of goodnights and goodnight kisses.

 

Entire days went by, and neither noticed the passing time, too enamoured with each other.

But on the seventh day, Nightmare felt the blessing of the fairy starting to end, and immediately ran to Error, terrified of what was happening.

"ERROR HELP ME!" Nightmare screamed. Hearing the other’s scream, Error dropped what he was doing and rushed towards him.

 

“W-whats wrong?!" 

Nightmare placed a hand on his chest where he felt the pain, pulling out his created soul. It was turning black and inky, dripping onto the floor.

 

"The week.. The week is over.. I didn't know... We didn’t remember...!" Nightmare cried, tears mixed with black ink slipping down his face.

Error was petrified with a cold horror. Why, why did this have to happen, why did he forget about the deadline...?!

 

"No... No, NO!" He sobbed, his own tears starting to fall.

"Error, I love you," Nightmare coughed out, black ink starting to weep out of his skull, dripping from his eyes, his nose, and his mouth. "I’ve always loved you, ever since you made me. Every time...you told me stories about...your day...and saying good night... and... the good night kisses..."

 

Nightmare’s speech started to slow, he himself becoming weaker and weaker as the black ink consumed him. Error sobbed again.

"Nightmare, I love you too! I love you so much, please don’t go... please..." Error cried, hugging the oozing skeleton close.

 

"Error... One last time... Can I get a good night kiss...?" Nightmare whispered, placing a hand on Error's cheek.

 

Error stared, and then gave a teary smile.

 

"For the one who made me the happiest... of course."

Error kissed him, not like the routine chaste forehead kiss, but a real kiss. He clanked their teeth together, pouring all his love into it. Nightmare pressed back, doing the same.

 

But soon, Nightmare had completely melted into a puddle of ink.

"Goodnight... I love you... Nightmare."

Outside the window, Ink grinned.

 

"Oh, so that's what happens!”

 

**_Part 2_ **

 

One day, a young fairy watched a scene from their magic mirror.

"Pale! Come over here!" He enthusiastically shouted at his other fairy companion, who looked up blankly.

"Hmmm what is it, Template?  Can’t you see I’m watching paint dry?" He motioned his hand to a wall with blob of blank paint.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I know you love your hobbies, but look at this come on!" His colorful animated wings flapped dramatically, motioning the other to come join him at the mirror.

So Pale stood, walked over, and joined him, taking notice of a black skeleton, like Template, making puppets skillfully and carefully. However, the thing Pale took most notice of, was the large plain looking puppet that the skeleton kept on talking to.

"So, what do we do?" Pale asked his companion who had probably had a plan already.

"Mweheheh, you know what we’re gonna do? We're gonna make this monster's wish come true!" Template stood and dramatically posed.

Pale looked at the mirror again.  _ ‘I wonder what will happen,’ _ He thought to himself.

That night, the two fairies appeared before Error and his puppet. One was a brightly colored fairy and the other a pallid colored fairy. Both Template and Pale's wings varying wing colors lit up the room.

"I’M TEMPLATE!" Template struck a pose.

 

"And I’m Pale," Pale held up a half hearted peace sign.

"And we're here to grant your wish!" The two said in unison, but with varied levels of excitement.

"Wait, you can grant my wish? You can make my friend real?!” Error held the puppets hand and looked up at the fairies hopefully. Pale saw the happiness in the others eyelights and the way he held onto the puppet like it was his only hope. 

 

_ 'How weird.. I don’t understand.' _

"Sure thing! We can totally grant your wish! In fact, we've been observing you for awhile. Well, I have." Template replied cheerfully. And with a tap of their magical tablet pen, colors consumed the puppet and gave it life. However, before the transformation was fully finished, Pale held out his hand and sent his magic to the puppet in the form of black ink.

Soon the puppet came to life. Light blue and orange clothes appeared, along with a golden crown and a bright yellow cape with a sun embroidered on it. The puppet opened its eyes, only to have no eyelights, still like a just like puppet.

Before Template was able to react, Pale floated forwards.

"From now on, his name is Dream. You have one week to teach this puppet to be a real monster or else he will turn back to what he was before."

Error nodded and smiled at Dream, and even with no eyelights, he smiled back at Error, grasping his hand back in return.

"Good." And with that, Pale gave them a small smile and dragged Template away. "Good luck. I’m curious how you'll do."

 

Dream and Error were inseparable.

It was so lightening to see Dream's innocence when it came to the simplest of things, and Dream was so eager to learn about everything. It made everything about him feel so alive, and even on the first day, Error couldn't imagine life without Dream.

And when night fell, Error kissed him on the forehead and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

They would cuddle up to each other and just talk, with Dream asking questions and Error having answers to give. They'd watch t.v., snuggled up like they were made to fit together.

 

The days came and left. Error and Dream grew closer and closer, until finally, on the sixth day, did Error kiss Dream as he always wanted to.

Kissing was  _ wonderful _ . Oh it made him feel so alive, senses overwhelmed with emotions that he never knew he craved. Error could feel Dream's surprise, how it changed into something more like love as he returned the kiss and wrapped his arms around him.

That night, they were tangled together closer than they'd ever been before.

 

On the seventh day, they never let go of each other. Error didn't know if he would lose Dream, or if he would get to continue living life with his newfound love.

Dream had taken to kissing him whenever he seemed too lost in thought, and Error never complained.

When night fell, they kissed again, cuddling on Error's bed as they waited for the fairies to arrive.

And they did.

"Error! Dream!" Template appeared in a burst of blue light, his hands clapped together and a bright smile on his face.

Pale appeared alongside him with a duller flash, an apathetic look on his face.

Dream's empty eyes were wide with apprehension, and Error hugged him tighter.

Template twirled in excitement, sending a burst of magic towards Dream.

"You did it!" He clapped happily, watching the magic take shape as eyelights in Dream's eyes.

"Yay." Pale said, no change in expression.

Dream stared, tears forming in his eyes, and he looked over at Error, who took his face in his hands and pressed their foreheads together. Error sobbed in relief.

"Dream I love you I love you so much."

Dream let out a teary gasp, leaning forward and kissing Error harder than he'd ever done before.

And in that moment, everything was  _ perfect _ .

("Okay, I'm bored now, Temp, can we leave."

"Shush, shut up Pale look they're so cute together.")

 

**_Epilogue_ **

 

Pale was looking through the mirror again. He gave a small unnoticeable smile as he watched the scene before him. The two lovers had been inseparable and they laughed and talked about many things. Today the two seem to be making something, so he watched them work. At the day’s end, Pale’s eyes widened in realization at the finished products.

Four puppet dolls had been made: Error, Dream, Template, and Pale.

Pale stood up and leaned closer to the mirror.  _ 'What are these two doing?' _

As he continued to watch, Error passed two folded pieces of paper to Dream while Dream carried the Error and Dream dolls gently to the window. He looked up, his eyelights indirectly meeting Pale’s and Pale held his breath.  _ 'I-It’s impossible right? Yeah he can’t have seen me, it’s me who’s watching them,' _ He tried to assure himself as he continued to watch what Dream was doing. Dream had placed a note on each puppet and looked up again. Cupping both of his hands to his mouth, he shouted, "Template! Pale! These dolls are for you!"

__

_ 'Oh,' _ Pale watched in slight surprise,  _ ‘They're for us.’ _

That night when Error and Dream gave their goodnight kisses and fell asleep in each other's arms, the fairies appeared again. Their wings were on the dimmed to keep the room dark, as to not disturb the two lovers.

"Look it's over there!" Template whispered excitedly. “ _ Oh my God, _ Pale!  We actually got gifts!" He squealed, grabbing the dolls and knocking the letters to the floor.

 

Pale sighed and picked up the letters, listening to Template’s babbling, no longer even trying to be quiet. As they were about to depart, Pale looked back only to notice the Template and Pale dolls placed on each side of a photo of Dream and Error.

 

_ Remember us. _

 

The not so quiet night came to a close and morning came. Error and Dream noticed the missing dolls and letters, and they knew the fairies had come that night. 

On the other side of the mirror, Pale watched the two, holding on to the doll of himself and both letters, each paper saying 'thank' 'you'.

This time Pale gave a small smile, and he could feel the color of happiness from both Error and Dream even from the other side of the mirror.

Template flounced over and sat next to Pale, giving him a knowing grin.

 

“I guess watching paint dry isn't your favorite hobby anymore?”

"Nah, watching paint dry is still better.  However.. " Pale looked at the doll in his hand, then the one in Template’s.  "... I guess this isn't half bad as well."

**Author's Note:**

> Sci: i basically wrote these all randomly on discord on my ungodly hours pfft . like the angst, first half of the fluff and the epilogue. oh yeah ANGST VER WILL NOT HAVE AN EPILOGUE ( ~~well i did make one but never posted it~~ ) BUT isnt more interesting to wonder what happens to the puppeteer who experienced love, and only take it away after being happy?  
> would he stay in place staring blankly at the puddle of his beloved? or would he go insane? i wonder >:3c  
> (also thank you fae for helping me post this in AO3!)
> 
> ink is a fucking asshole  
> template is a weeboo  
> pale got some new hobbies
> 
> thanks for reading!


End file.
